One point of extreme weirdness. There were two playlist contenders for the movie as it plays. 00100.MPLS simply runs 00023.M2TS for what is presumably its entire length. 00099.MPLS runs 00023.M2TS to 1:33:20.011, then switches over to 00036.M2TS.

This different section covered is the credits. I checked the start and finish of both (obviously, starting at the relevant point in the 00100.MPLS), and both appeared to have the same content. But according to BDInfo the final chapter of 00100.MPLS has a much lower average video bitrate than the final chapter of 00099.MPLS. This last chapter in each case fairly closely coincides with the credits.

It was unclear which was playing during normal movie playback. I did some research to try to find a way of determining which files were open during playback, but apparently in Windows XP you need this excellent command line application called 'openfiles.exe' that allegedly comes with XP, but isn't on any of my computers. (Please feel free to message me if you can provide it!)

Anyway, here are both the playlists to cover all cases. But I can't say which it is.

Appears to have the same VC1 and TrueHD encodes as the Canadian version on the front page, but a different language package. Also, seems to be 'Australianised' disc, opening with Roadshow logo and copyright warnings.

Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment (Australasia) Pty Ltd
Region free, confirmed with AnyDVD HD, notwithstanding that the slick indicates that it is Region A (!)

Seems fairly similar to original US version. But with both this and the US versions, what's with the subtitles? The presentation graphics streams are each greater than 400kbps, whereas they are normally one tenth of that. There's nothing special about the subtitles, and since there is so little dialogue in the movie, there aren't that many of them anyway.

There are also playlists for the nine individual episodes on this disc, but these are not used. The disc instead hooks into the main 'Play All' playlist, shown here, when an individual episode is selected from the Scene Selections style menu. When the end of the episode is reached, the disc just plays on to the next episode.

There are also playlists for the three individual episodes on this disc, but these are not used. The disc instead hooks into the main 'Play All' playlist, shown here, when an individual episode is selected from the Scene Selections style menu. When the end of the episode is reached, the disc just plays on to the next episode.

This disc has been 'Australianised', with Roadshow Entertainment opening logo and Australian copyright information. From past experience, the video and English audio encodes are likely to be the same as the US ones.

This disc has been 'Australianised', with Roadshow Entertainment opening logo and Australian copyright information. From past experience, the video and English audio encodes are likely to be the same as the US ones.

This disc has been 'Australianised', with Roadshow Entertainment opening logo and Australian copyright information. From past experience, the video and English audio encodes are likely to be the same as the US ones.

The stripped down zero-feature rental version (from Netflix). It follows the mysterious Fox practice of actually placing all of the extras on the disc itself, while simply creating a menu that doesn't let them be accessed directly. Could've been shrunk to a BD-25 with them absent...

DD 2.0 track is a commentary. Oddly, there are an extra two playlists on disc which seem to represent the two separate parts of the original broadcast and these are also split into two M2TS, but from the menu there is only the option to play the whole affair as one monolithic three-hour block (with chapter selections of course).

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans - 2009 - Australian version

Distributed by Roadshow Entertainment
Locked to Region B, confirmed with AnyDVD HD. This is done in an unsual manner: the company logo and copyright info play all right, and the main menu is shown. But you get the 'wrong region code' message if you try to play any content. More details on my site here, along with something about the very unusual embedded audio.

Note: extras (about three quarters of an hour of intereviews) are all in 576i50, with a rather high video bitrate of about 12Mbps, although the result is quite undistinguished looking.

This must be one of those split distribution deals. The US version currently shown on the front page is distributed by Warner Bros, this one by Universal. Although this is the Australian version, judging by the copyright icons on the disc artwork, it also seems to be the UK and Euro version.

Yet ...

Region free, confirmed with AnyDVD HD.

Mr Squid, do you have any full png frames from the US version? This one is VC1, like the US version, but the video bitrate of the Australian one is 235% of the US one. Could make an interesting comparison.

Mr Squid, do you have any full png frames from the US version? This one is VC1, like the US version, but the video bitrate of the Australian one is 235% of the US one. Could make an interesting comparison.

Yes, I do have the full set of I-frames laying around, although I haven't got around to sorting through them yet. With the US release being a bit on the lowish side bitrate-wise, I agree that would make an interesting comparison of the possible effect of this since they are presumably both encoded from the same source. There were certainly some negative PQ reviews for the US release, but I don't recall any noticeable artifacting when I watched it on my 92" projector screen. Admittedly I'd had a few (or more) drinks at the time, so I wasn't in prime condition make any kind of firm judgement...

Apparently identical video and English-language encode to that on the US version, but lacks PIP content. Also has 'Universal' style menu structure and look, albeit with the normal BD-Java used on those titles.